Mudguards of the present type are know. Generally, the flap's main body and the adapter protrusion are made as a single unit of rubber or some other rubber-like elastic material. Flaps are also known in which the upper area thereof consists of metal to which is joined an area of rubber or similar material. These types of flaps are provided with several types of mounting devices for connecting the flap to the fender-fold of a fender.
In an improved mudguard of this type, a bendable reinforcement plate is provided on the surface to the adapter protrusion or is embedded therein. To mount the mudguard on the chassis, bolts extend through this reinforcement plate as well as through the adapter protrusion, which are then screwed into the fender-fold. Or, the mounting is accomplished by means of clamps which engage the fender-fold and the reinforcement plate. Insofar that the reinforcement plate is bendable, it is therefore possible to bend and configure the orientation of the mudguard to different chassis curvatures and thus to adjust and align the mudguard with respect to the adjacent wheels of the vehicle.
The purpose of mudguard flaps attached to motor vehicles is to ensure that the water spray that is thrown upwardly by the wheels is guided under the vehicle and thus taken out of the flow-zone of the wheels. That is, the water should not be thrown out sideways far beyond the car. Rather it should be ejected as a tightly bundled beam in the middle of the vehicle. In order to achieve this kind of ejection of the water spray by means of mudguards, they should be mounted in such a way that they are at an angle to the vehicle's plane; that is, a transverse plane that runs parallel to the axis of the wheels. Thus, in an assembled state, the outside edge of the mudguard, in respect to the inside edge, runs diagonally to the rear, in respect to the direction of travel of the vehicle. That is, the outside edge of the mudguard attached to the vehicle is disposed forwardly of the inner edge of the mudguard.
In this latter regard, a major problem is encountered with modern passenger cars. The modern fender-fold portion of the chassis, which serves for mounting the mudguard, is inclined in the opposite direction, since this simplifies the forming and shaping of the corresponding chassis parts by the sheet metal presses. As a result, when a mudguard flap is directly mounted to the fender-fold, for example by means of a bendable reinforcement plate of the type described above, then the mudguard flap assumes an angle with respect to the vertical plane formed by the axis of the wheels, so that the outside edge of the mudguard flap on the vehicle is positioned behind the inner edge of the mudguard, i.e., is disposed rearwardly of the inner edge rather than the desired forwardly disposition, as explained above. Thus, the water spray is directed to the rear rather than to the middle of the vehicle.
To avoid this problem, it has been suggested that the mounting portion of the mudguard, that is, the point or points at which bolts or clamps are used to attach the mudguard to the fender, be provided with small wedges. These are used to prevent the unfavorable alignment of the mudguard. Experience has shown, however, that these wedges are not only difficult to mount and thus make the complete assembly of the mudguard flap much more difficult, but also that the use of wedges generally does not assure a sufficiently reliable mounting of the mudguard, especially when attachment clamps, rather than bolts, are used for this purpose.
Another attempt by the art to avoid the above-noted problem was that of attaching the mudguard to a convenient mounting point along the chassis so that the attachment would cause the mudguard to become bendable in the desired direction. This, however, requires a special connection to the chassis. Also, it is frequently very difficult to find a suitable mounting point along the chassis or, for that matter, to make that type of connection.